What do we know about the Texans at 2-0?

Last year, some folks wondered if the Texans could come back from a deficit because they were so used to rolling with leads. And some fans were sick of settling for field goals.

Me personally, I would like the Texans to demolish teams every week and be happy getting field goals…if it means they are getting made.

Each year has different challenges, and certainly the early year Texans’ formula of 2012 of getting big leads and not relinquishing them, hasn’t translated to this year.

This year, fans wished to see more targets to DeAndre Hopkins. Probably didn’t want to see Andre Johnson exit the game to get a concussion evaluation to see Hopkins pressed into catching a game-winning TD.

What do we know of this year’s Texans team?

Each year’s team is a little different, and I am not sure we’ve yet seen this team’s defining attributes.

Clutch?

There may be folks who say this year’s Texans are more clutch than previous teams, but I think this is just a better team than some of the ones that they had prior to Wade Phillips joining the team.

It used to be that if the Texans faced teams with good defenses, they were in big trouble because opposing quarterbacks all had Joe Montana-esque QB ratings facing the bad Texans defense. That even if the offense got back into sync, they would get so far behind, comebacks were extremely difficult.

I buy Arian Foster’s view of the game. He was asked if the Texans were mentally tougher than the Titans, and his response?

I wouldn’t say all that. I mean, we just made the plays we needed to make, whether that means we’re tough or not, I don’t know. But I think it’s a tribute to these coaches, the coaching staff, weight staff and these players that put in the work and have been putting in the work since early April. That’s just what we expect.

Ultimately, you need all the pieces and parts in place and reasonably sensible coaching. But you need to execute well, and get some measure of luck.

The last two games show how much football is a game of inches and luck.

I didn’t do a review of the last late game, but it is pretty much summed up by Daft Punk…”We’re up all night to get lucky.” I don’t think they were thinking of football though.

Kicker.

Field goal kickers tend to not be consistent from year to year.

And it is hard to predict which young kickers will be good. The Ravens won the Super Bowl with a rookie kicker last year.

That being said, if you are asking me if the Texans should be concerned with their inexperienced kicker, Randy Bullock, I am going to have to say yes.

In camp, I saw him nail a 60-yarder. I also saw him miss all sorts of kicks between the 40s that NFL kickers are expected to make. And that was the off-season. Not real games. Not real pressure.

Is this one of those years where you never feel good about field goal attempts? Is this fixable? Are these just early season tests to prepare him for more difficult situations later in the year? Is this a blessing in disguise to see what other options are out there before the Texans face more difficult situations?

I think the answer to these questions is that there is no great Plan B. If a guy is an awesome kicker, he is probably already being paid by some other team. That the only thing that Gary Kubiak can do now is to try to do the old “I believe in Randy” bit because he doesn’t have great alternatives after the season has started.

Punter.

As disappointing as the field goal kicking has been in a small sample size, the punting has been as good and punishing as you can do as a punter.

The best post-game quote about Shane Lechler was from J.J. Watt:

I’ve never gotten excited, gotten up off the bench to watch a punter before, but I love watching him punt. There’s a reason the guy’s the best in the game. It’s so precise and he knows what he’s doing. It’s like poetry. It’s beautiful. He’s pinning it down there and we don’t even have to have people touch it. It just stops at the one-yard line. That’s insane. It’s such asset to our team. It’s huge starting inside the 10-yard line a couple of times today. He can boot it long when he needs to boot it long. He’s just so precise. It’s really honestly fun to watch. It’s great to have on this squad.

Of course, you don’t want to see a lot of punting for your offense, but quality punting has been a difference maker in the first two games.

Inconsistency.

Sometimes the Texans offense looks unbeatable. Like the first, brutally efficient first Texans drive. 5 plays, 2:30 off the clock. Touchdown Texans. Looked like college game football.

And then for a good part of the game, they didn’t. Part of that was that the Titans were doing what the Texans often do to other teams…chew so much clock the opposing offense can’t get on the field. The Texans ended up getting more time of possession than the Titans, but a large part of the game, the Titans had much more.

Part of that was the Titans starting the first offensive possession with a 14 play, TD drive that took 7: 20.

I think this offense and defense can both play better.

We don’t know who the good teams are yet.

I’ve heard some people say that the Texans shouldn’t play “down to their opponents.”

Maybe this is a year that the Titans have a much improved defense. If you read the game preview with Titans/Football Outsiders writer Tom Gower, you would likely not have been surprised with the pressure that Matt Schaub was seeing. That Titans defense ultimate numbers may not be good for this game, but Schaub had few throws from a clean pocket. And the defensive line was getting a great deal of penetration on many running plays.

A few years ago, the Texans had a very physical game against the 49ers in the preseason. A 49ers team that went 6-10 the previous year, and a team many projected to not be good as they were still quarterbacked by Alex Smith. And they ended up winning 13 regular season games.

The 49ers example is an extreme example of being bad to good, but that’s the nature of the NFL. Sometimes I think fans think of NFL games too much like college games, there aren’t directional schools you play down to.

Ultimately, I’m not sure we can say too much definitively about this team. I don’t think they’ve “turned the corner” with winning close games or being mentally tougher or any of that talk.

I think they are a good enough team to have more realistic chances of coming back in tough games. And the Texans and their fans should all go out and get some lotto tickets because there’s some crazy luck going on that everyone should cash in.